Another Question
by KTEW
Summary: Sequel to Question. Honey's a hypocrite and knows it. She might've convinced Bee to ask Longshot to the party, but now she has to get up the courage to ask HER crush. The DukexOC


Cinnamon yawned and forced herself into an upright position, then looked at me, dressed and already practicing my bending. I'd always been the morning person, she'd always been the night owl.

At least, for as long as we can remember.

"'Morning," she said groggily, dragging herself out of bed.

"'Morning!" I said brightly, trying to get my mind off the dark path it'd wandered down.

She walked over to the wall all of our stuff was against and picked up a mirror and comb, both… _liberated_ from a rare woman Fire Nation soldier on our last raid, a week or so earlier.

She yanked the delicate comb through her tangled hair until it shone. We, unlike most girls in the group–well, except Bee that one time–cared about our appearance, and even then, we didn't exactly dress up to go to sword practice.

"So," she yawned, still half asleep. "Party's tonight."

I nodded and bended the water from the bowl around me the way Katara had shown us, not knowing where she was going with that comment.

"You gonna ask him?" she asked, walking over and kneeling next to me.

I bended the water back into the bowl, sighed, and leaned against the wall. "'You gonna ask him'. Ha, ha, very funny, Cinnamon."

She raised her eyebrows. "I was being serious."

I shot her a look. "No, I'm not gonna ask him. The guy's two years younger than me. It'd be a little weird, don't you think?"

She smiled a bit. "You are _such_ a hypocrite."

I glared. "How so?"

She half-laughed. "Pfft. Yesterday you were the one practically forcing Bee to ask a guy two years _older_ than her."

I looked away. "That's different. She's liked him for seven years!"

"No, _he's_ liked _her_ for seven years. _She's_ liked _him_ for less than a month. And _you've_ like _him_ for two and half years."

I pursed my lips. "I'm not gonna ask him."

"Alright," she sang, getting up and heading for the door. "Have fun at the party, all by yourself."

"You're one to talk!" I yelled after her.

She closed the door behind her. I groaned and titled my head back, looking at the ceiling. I _wished_ I could get up the nerve to ask him, and she knew it.

"Why can't I just _do it_?" I grumbled. "If I'm gonna get rejected, I might as well get it over with. At least that'll get Cinnamon off my back for a little while." And to think, usually _I_ was the annoying one. Seriously, ask anyone.

I sighed, got up, and headed out the door, closing it behind me. I climbed down the planks that led to the next level of the tree house.

"Now, where would he be," I muttered. I looked around. I didn't see him, but I did see Bee. Maybe she'd know. I ran over.

"Hey, Bee!" I yelled.

She turned, saw me, and smiled. I knew I was really just a kid in her eyes, but we were still really good friends.

"Hey," she said. "Oh, I've been meaning to say thank you for yesterday. I know tonight's gonna go great."

_Pfft. For you, maybe_, I thought.

"Oh, um, about that," I said. "I… uh…"

She frowned. "You still haven't asked him, have you?"

I bit my lip and shook my head. Bee and Cinnamon were the only ones who knew I liked him. Wait, did I ever tell Longshot? Hmm…

She sighed and put a hand on her hip. "He's by the river. But be careful. I made him leave 'cause he's working on another one of his… experiments."

"Ah." Of course he was. I didn't know why, but that was one of the reasons I liked him.

"Well, go! Shoo!" She nudged me toward the ropes.

I turned and stuck my tongue out at her, but went down.

A few minutes later, I got to the river. I looked around, but didn't see him. Or hear him. Which was surprising, considering how loud he usually was.

"Hit the floor!" someone yelled, diving into me and sending me crashing into the ground.

BOOM!

I blinked. Hard. Okay, I honestly should've expected that.

And then I noticed he was still on top of me.

"Um, hey, The Duke," I said.

"Hey, Honey," he said, obviously trying to be smooth. _He's been hanging around Jet _way _too much_, I thought.

"Um, The Duke?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you get off me? Please?"

His eyes widened. "Heh," he said nervously, jumping up and holding out his hand.

I took it; he pulled me up.

And didn't let go.

We both stared at our hands a moment, blushing like crazy. I cleared my throat. He dropped it.

"So…" I said, trying to think of something to break the tension. And there was a _lot_ of it. "New toy?"

He grinned and nodded. "Yep! Although I might've used too much blasting jelly." He looked thoughtful.

I giggled. "Don't you always?"

He thought another moment, then said, "You know, you're right."

We laughed.

I thought about how it used to be so easy to talk to him. How it'd be different if I went through with this. What would I do if he said no?

_Bee went through with it_, I thought. _If Bee can do it, I can do it_.

"Um, The Duke?" I said.

"Yeah?"

"I've, um… Listen, I've been meaning to ask you something…"

"Hmm?" he asked, picking up his helmet. It'd fallen off when he crashed into me. He turned back to me.

"Um, do you, maybe… wanna go to the dance… with me?"

His response was… _different_ from Longshot's (which I'd watched from the trees).

He ran up and hugged me. "Yes!" he said.

I beamed. "So, um… see you tonight?"

"Uh, actually, could you help me clean up?" he asked, looking strangely shy.

I noticed there were the remains of something metal scattered around the whole place.

I giggled again. "Sure."


End file.
